I've become much more price concious lately given what the price of ammo is doing. I'm also trying to find something to get my nephew for Christmas, and trying to keep it gun related (more on that later...).
Any way, I'm in my local gun shop looking at .243. $20+ a box for just about everything. Suddenly I notice a stack of Federal 100gr stuff that's fallen behind the rest of the boxes. I grabbed on and it was marked $12.95 a box. I figured the boxes had been mispriced and showed the owner (who is a decent sort). He said, "No, that's right. It's just old stock that got pushed back for some reason." He also said he'd sell it as-marked, as much as I wanted to buy. Well, now... I start digging and find fourteen boxes! I bought the whole dang stack. I'll give my nephew four or five boxes as a present and his dad is going to keep the rest tucked away. Given the rate that my nephew is using up ammo, fourteen boxes will just about last him through the end of the year.
Now about the gun, which I HAVE to mention. My brother had been looking for a youth model rifle. We took a look at pretty much everything - Remington, Savage, Winchester, etc. but nothing really seemed 'right'. That is until we stumbled on to a Ruger M77 Compact. Danged if it's not about the handiest little shootin' iron I've seen in a while. At 35.5" overall length it almost feels like a toy, but that's the beauty. It's small enough to maneuver inside a pickup cab and tons easier to store in small spaces (like behind your pickup seat or in an overhead rack). Plus it just feels good - small, fast to the shoulder, easy to carry, and just the right weight to soak up the modest recoil of a .243 but still be easy to lug around. With a cheapy little Simmons 3-9x32 Blazer scope it's, well..., the gun is just flat-out handy. The kid shoots a ton with it, too. In fact, I was so taken with it that I'm considering getting one for me in .223 or .22-250 to keep as an all-around varmint gun. Throw a Leupold FX-II 6x36 compact scope on it and you've got yourself a dandy small-but-potent combo that will do just about anything.
Brad
